RIDGEWOOD — A representative from the Public Service Electric and Gas Co. told the Village Council on Wednesday night that the controversial installation of 65-foot-tall utility poles on Hope Street and Spring Avenue would resume before the weekend.

David Hollenbeck, PSE&G’s regional public affairs manager, told the council that crews would return to Ridgewood on Friday to erect more poles.

A total of 78 poles — which PSE&G started installing four weeks ago — will go up. They are designed to handle up to 69,000 volts of electricity. The new poles will connect high-voltage lines from a Fair Lawn substation to one in Paramus.

The Village Council met both before and after Wednesday’s meeting to discuss possible legal recourses.

A month ago, after receiving complaints from Hope Street and Spring Avenue residents, village officials asked the utility to stop installing the poles until a public meeting could be held so residents could ask PSE&G representatives about possible health threats |and whether the project should have been subject to village approval

Wednesday’s meeting gave council members their first chance to question to the utility’s representatives about the pole project.

“The process was not handled well at all,” Aronsohn told PSE&G officials Wednesday. “Clearly, there was not an appropriate effort to inform residents and the council what was in the works here.”

Aronsohn also asked why it took the utility four weeks to provide the village with its legal opinion on the project.

Deputy Mayor Al Pucciarelli, who is a lawyer, said that, according to his understanding of state statute, the utility should have received “prior consent from the village to put these poles on the streets that you did.”

Pucciarelli criticized PSE&G’s approach to the project— including an information forum on July 31 from which several residents walked out in disgust.

“It’s so wrong to tell us after the fact what you did, and then say, ‘And that’s the way it’s going to be, and there’s no chance we can change that,’Ÿ” Pucciarelli said.

Hollenbeck said the utility notified village officials of the pole project twice in March, and that PSE&G has gone out of its way to alleviate residents’ fears.

Kyle King, an expert on electromagnetic fields who was retained by PSE&G, told the council that residents who live beneath the new poles should not face any adverse health effects from the higher-voltage lines.

Kenneth Sheehan, a lawyer representing the utility, said the village effectively consented to the larger poles a decade ago when it agreed to the installation of the poles that are being replaced.

Sheehan said the village had “no zoning authority” over PSE&G, and characterized any legal action taken by the village as “possibly frivolous.”

If the village formally opposes the project, it could force a review by the state Board of Public Utilities, Sheehan said, effectively suspending the project and providing a process for the public to give its input.

Aronsohn liked that suggestion.

“We could stop the clock and get some public input,” he said. “We are not saying this project is problematic, but in terms of the decision … maybe that’s a good process.”